Eddie Goldenberg, who served as chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, has died. A statement from Global Public Affairs CEO Randy Pettipas, where Goldenberg worked, says Goldenberg died "after a hard-fought battle with cancer." Originally from Montreal, Goldenberg was a lawyer by trade and spent a decade as a senior policy adviser for Chretien before ultimately being...
Canadians support Mark Carney’s approach to managing the economy, even though he’s presided over the worst first year of growth for a prime minister since at least 1963. A Nanos Research Group poll for Bloomberg News shows 60 per cent of Canadians think Carney has done a very good or good job of handling the economy. That compares with 2...
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says she raised human rights concerns and specific consular cases involving Canadian citizens during a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Jeddah on Thursday. “Engagement doesn’t mean endorsement,” Anand said. “It is necessary to fulfil Canadian values, to represent those values on the world stage and to bring...
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, as he seeks to deepen bilateral trade and investment after years of diplomatic strain. Carney's trip -- the first to the country by a Canadian prime minister in 26 years -- also saw him meet with business leaders in Jeddah, a port city on...
Carney said decision was made 'months ago' — when government was touting its work. A corporate watchdog was still accepting complaints right up until the point Prime Minister Mark Carney announced its dissolution — seemingly out of nowhere — despite saying the decision to discontinue the office was made "months" earlier. The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) was introduced...
The Liberals continue to lead federal voting intentions, with their advantage over the Conservatives shrinking into the single digits. Mark Carney remains the preferred choice for prime minister, while jobs, the economy and cost-of-living pressures continue to rank among Canadians’ top concerns.
He's not giving up. He's not backing down. If he was a boxer you'd need to knock him out. The man insists he is not throwing in the towel. He will continue to throw down the gauntlet. Wasn't so long ago Pierre Poilievre had the momentum, drew the huge crowds at rallies across Canada, attracted the young and the working...
I’m starting to believe that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is the subject of an elaborate, prolonged hazing ritual. The frat house in this scenario might have better decorum and nicer furniture than those found on college campuses, but the initiation process is the same: subject the pledge to a succession of humiliating rituals to see if and how long he...
NDP Leader Avi Lewis will not run for a seat in any upcoming federal byelections. "For now, his focus is on rebuilding the party, in keeping with discussions with the NDP caucus and elected officers, as well as the overwhelming mandate given to him by members to revive the party and prepare it for the next election," the party told...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says it's "unacceptable" that Iran has launched attacks on commercial ships in recent days as it attempts to tighten its grip over the Strait of Hormuz. Anand met with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Thursday and she says Canada stands alongside Persian Gulf countries as Iran lashes out against them. Speaking with reporters in Jeddah, Saudi...
“Rather than sitting here and arguing with each other, we’re actually going to get out there and talk to the people!” That’s how Premier Doug Ford defined the Legislature of Ontario. It was his defence for the unprecedented five-month break and the lowest number of days “The Ledge” will sit in decades.
Is this the end of Trudeau's independent upper chamber? Though it is perhaps not foremost on their minds when they gain power, every prime minister has the opportunity to put their stamp on the Senate. And if there was particular speculation about what Mark Carney might do in regards to Parliament's upper house, it is because Justin Trudeau's stamp on...
The Prime Minister's grand bargain is just intentions for now. But it's harder for Alberta’s separatists to say he's trying to hobble their industry.
Just how nonsensical does a pitch for a new oil pipeline have to be, in the current political climate, to be rejected out of hand? Courtesy of Doug Ford and Danielle Smith, we’re about to find out.
When it comes to theatre of the absurd in public life, nothing tops pipeline politics. There was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith—who has accused the Liberals of hamstringing Big Oil, crushing her province’s aspirations, and inciting Albertans to break up the country—turning to the feds to build her long-sought new pipeline.
Suddenly, pipelines are all the rage. Time was when you couldn’t get a pipeline built in this country, for love or money. Three pipeline proposals – Northern Gateway, Energy East and Keystone XL – came and went, dead of political hostility, regulatory obstacles or both. Governments, some of them anyway, seemed positively eager to discourage them. Federal legislation, Bill C-69...
Mark Carney had better hope that Tom Pitfield and Richard Martel are good senators. If they are not, it will be his fault. Carney announced the two appointments to the Senate on Tuesday, setting aside the non-partisan process established by Justin Trudeau who reformed the Senate appointment process for good reason. Every prime minister before him used the Senate as...
Do politicians start parades, or merely get in front of them? That’s a question Canadians might be asking this week, following news that the government was polling them on the issue of oil pipelines last fall — just days before Prime Minister Mark Carney announced an agreement with Alberta to explore building a new one to B.C.
Instead of building a winning coalition against Mark Carney, Poilievre keeps picking unnecessary fights with Conservatives who should be helping him win.
As NATO leaders gather in Ankara, Turkey, this week, much of the attention will inevitably be focusing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest complaints about burden-sharing and American leadership. That’s understandable. But, if the summit becomes consumed by familiar political theatrics, it will miss a far more important strategic opportunity. Ukraine has exposed a vulnerability in Russia’s war economy that...
The South Korean bidder, Hanwha, backed by its government, promised to put money into a Canadian steel plant and put commercials on TV. Germany’s TKMS proposed later subproduction in Canada and lined up Canadian subcontractors. Somewhere in there, on top of the bidding war for highly exaggerated “economic benefits,” was a choice between two top-notch diesel submarines, a key future...
Just over two years ago, the Liberal government released its defence policy review, Our North, Strong and Free, which purported to focus on Arctic sovereignty by defending Canada’s coastline from maritime and airborne threats.
While the Carney government bills itself as Canada’s “new government”, it has gone with the conventional choice in selecting a German-Norwegian consortium to supply and maintain up to 12 new submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP). After a monthslong contest between South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha and the German/Norwegian consortium TKMS, Prime Minister Mark Carney went...
Donald Trump has often been described as unpredictable. And that’s true — but when he chose not to renew the CUSMA trade deal, no one could claim to be surprised. The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement could have been renewed by all three parties on its existing terms for an additional 16 years. Having announced this week that it would not be...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is proving that politics at its most important is a big-picture game. Which is to say, it isn’t only about the price of gas, the cost of housing, and the dozens of other kitchen-table issues that normally dominate the public debate.
Mark Carney keeps saying he’s running a new government, not just a sequel to the Justin Trudeau years. This week, Canadians may finally have to admit he’s right. As the door opens to a new Alberta pipeline, Carney closed the door on the Trudeau era.
Let’s thank U.S. President Donald Trump for one thing. As Ottawa launches a national competition to restore 24 Sussex Drive, the White House renovations are a lesson in what not to do. A master class, really. Trump is building to glorify himself. The “goldening” of the Oval Office, the transformation of the Rose Garden into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio designed to...
British Columbia Premier David Eby, had, in U.S. President Donald Trump’s words, “no cards” to play during contentious pipeline talks, but he walked away this week with a winning hand, leaving Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with successes to boast of, but with major political wounds, too. When Carney and Smith signed a memorandum of understanding...
Enlightened Americans will watch in horror today as Donald Trump presides over a grotesque national birthday celebration, recoiling at the president’s kingly indulgences, seeing them as affronts to the memory of the noble patriots who established their republic 250 years ago.
When Canada signed the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States in 2002, the bargain rested on one assumption: that the U.S. offers a fair, humane process to people fleeing persecution. That assumption is no longer true, and this week the U.S. Supreme Court made it official. In two rulings on June 25, the Court sided with the Trump...
One of the perverse joys of politics is when an elected official looks you in the eye and tells you that the thing going on directly in front of your face is not happening. This happened twice during Mark Carney’s Oprah giveaway day on Thursday: You get a port! And you get a tunnel! And everybody gets a pipeline, whether...
Canada’s national holiday and America’s fall within a few days of each other, yet celebrate two very different things. Each celebrates their respective country’s birth, of course, but they define this in different ways. The American commemorates a breach, an abrupt and indeed violent rupture with the imperial power; the Canadian, the date scheduled for its inception as a federal...
Prime Minister Mark Carney deserves credit for doing the thing that prime ministers before him have been too pusillanimous to do for decades. While it shouldn’t be politically risky, really, to spend some money to refurbish the official residence of the Prime Minister ‐ which has been inhabited only by mice and insects for the last 10 years – this...
Should questions about Alberta’s place in Canada be left only to Albertans? Or is it a national issue that should engage other Canadians, especially those with the skill to make a passionate argument for unity? Is that unwanted meddling?
Canada is putting international law as one of its top priorities at the United Nations -- as others accuse Ottawa of pulling its punches. Canada's UN ambassador David Lametti says international rules are "under strain" by major and regional powers, and that Ottawa is alarmed by countries killing civilians, aid workers and UN staff. "I don't think anyone's attacking humanitarian...
A new automaker has entered Canada’s electric vehicle market giving some consumers looking to purchase a new vehicle more options. Lotus, owned by the Chinese Geely Group, recently shipped its first Eletre EVs to Canada under a Canada-China deal signed in January. The premium SUV, made in Wuhan, is the first Chinese-owned and Chinese-built EV available for sale in Canada...
Prime Minister Mark Carney was given a personalized, engraved pistol and live ammunition by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he departed the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed all NATO leaders received the unusual gift from Erdogan. Global Affairs Canada said in a statement to reporters travelling with Carney that the gun has been...
The Conservative Senate caucus added a member to its ranks a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney moved to appoint one of his closest allies to the chamber. Leo Housakos, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, announced that independent Senator Jim Quinn is joining the Conservative Senate caucus. “Senator Quinn’s decades of public service, leadership and commitment to...
Meta says Alberta will be home to its first artificial intelligence data centre in Canada. The tech company behind Facebook says the $13-billion project is to be located in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton. It says the one-gigawatt data centre will be powered by a natural gas power plant. It's to feature a closed-loop water cooling system so it won't...
A document prepared for the federal artificial intelligence minister to use when pitching international investors on Canada's AI ecosystem identifies a massive proposed increase in Canada's data centre capacity. But spokespeople for the government pushed back strongly on the figure, saying it is not a projection of the capacity Canada expects to build, and the total capacity will be much...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in Saudi Arabia as he seeks economic partnerships with a strategically important country whose notorious human rights record is only getting worse. Carney is in the city of Jeddah on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in what will be the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a sitting Canadian prime minister...
Richard Martel and Nate Erskine-Smith resigned their seats in the House of Commons on Tuesday, setting a clock ticking ahead of a pair of byelections in Quebec and Ontario -- and they are not the only ones. Voters in a number of ridings across the country will be asked to choose new federal representatives in the coming months as members...
President Donald Trump threatened to drop a diplomatic bomb on Canada at the height of his crazed “51st state” ramblings, according to insiders. Trump began publicly flirting with the idea of absorbing Canada into the U.S. in late 2024, and it soon became a hallmark of his second term. He would refer to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “governor”...
Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the appointment of his principal secretary Tom Pitfield to the Senate, saying that having people with different areas of expertise is important for the institution. Pitfield, a longtime Liberal strategist, was one of four new appointments announced Tuesday, as the prime minister drops the non-partisan criteria for appointments to the upper chamber. Carney told reporters...
Trump says he might have skipped NATO summit if not for friendship with Turkish president. Prime Minister Mark Carney has backed the latest U.S. strikes on Iran, calling it an appropriate response to ceasefire violations. The remarks were made on the way into the NATO Summit in Ankara, where President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with the Islamic nation over...
Canada will turn to the Norwegian company Kongsberg to acquire joint strike missiles to be used by future Royal Canadian Air Force fighter jets, such as the F-35s. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the contract, worth some $800 million, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where allies are unveiling tens of billions in military-related spending. It comes days after...
Canada’s tradition of providing a residence for the Official Opposition leader is being targeted by a parliamentary petition advanced by a Victoria resident. As of Tuesday, Carol Burman’s petition to stop funding Stornoway as a private residence for the Opposition leader had received 14,831 signatures. The petition opened for signatures on May. 1. The option to sign closes July 30.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says U.S. President Donald Trump has succeeded in pushing Canada and European allies to spend more on defence, arguing that NATO members increasingly recognize the security threats they face. Carney said he spoke with Trump on Sunday before both leaders arrived at the NATO summit in Ankara and told him that defence spending by Canada and...
The U.S. launched strikes on Iran early Wednesday, hours after it revoked a licence authorizing the sale of Iranian oil in retaliation for what it said were Tehran’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran hit back with strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait. U.S. President Donald Trump said later that the interim agreement with Iran was “over” but...
NATO countries are bolstering their militaries after U.S. President Donald Trump "won the argument" on defence spending, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday. Trump has long said allies don't spend enough on defence and that the U.S. has carried more than its fair share of NATO's defence spending burden. Carney told reporters in Turkey on the last day of the...
Despite record-breaking fundraising last year, the Conservatives’ $84-million in annual revenue falls over $14-million short of its expenses, as the Liberals' more moderate spending and lower loan balance leaves a rosier financial outlook into 2026. The Conservative Party’s unprecedented spending of nearly $100-million in 2025—roughly one-third of which was shelled out during last year’s general election—may be testing the limits...
The Canadian government told the Trump administration new legislation combating forced labour in supply chains should shield Canada from new tariffs. In a written submission to the United States Trade Representative's office, the Government of Canada said it "remains committed to working closely with the United States to eradicate forced labour from global supply chains." "In light of Canada's existing...
Canada’s decision to buy up to 12 new submarines from German naval giant TKMS is more than just the country’s biggest-ever defence procurement deal: it’s a chance to build a new industry to maintain the vessels and join a global supply chain serving countries both within and potentially outside the NATO alliance.
Liberal MPs shut down a Conservative attempt to have the House of Commons ethics committee investigate the government's plan to turn unsold condos into affordable housing in British Columbia. The Liberal government joined with the B.C. government last month to announce a plan to have the governments buy up 2,200 vacant condo units to convert into affordable housing. The Conservatives...
It was a day of congratulating the winners and perhaps consoling the loser at the NATO summit for Canada's prime minister. Mark Carney met with the leaders of Germany and Norway on Tuesday in a trilateral meeting where they thanked each over Canada's decision to accept German shipyard ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS)'s bid to build 12 submarines for the navy.
A South Korean shipbuilding company is withdrawing from a partnership to build a training hub with Mohawk College and Ontario Shipyards in Hamilton because Canada has chosen to buy navy submarines from a German company instead of Hanwha Ocean. The remaining partners say Hanwha's support was "significant," but their initiative is not dead in the water.
The U.S. military launched new strikes against Iran early Wednesday, hours after three merchant ships were struck in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest exchange of fire to threaten the interim deal to end the fighting between the two countries. The renewed attacks were sure to add to the difficulty of the negotiations aimed at fully reopening the strait...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first-ever Senate appointments tap two partisan picks from both sides of the aisle—a sitting Conservative MP and the Prime Minister Office’s principal secretary—signifying a return to a more partisan Upper Chamber, says one former PMO staffer. “This signifies … a realization from Mr. Carney and his team that they needed more certainty in the Senate, and...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has named his principal secretary Tom Pitfield to the Senate, as he says he is dropping the non-partisan criteria for appointments to the upper chamber. Pitfield is one of four new appointments to the Senate announced Tuesday, the first Carney has made since he took office more than a year ago. Conservative MP Richard Martel is...
Isar Aerospace will build a dedicated complex in Canso, N.S., for its launch vehicle. The company vying to build Canada's first commercial rocket launch pad in Nova Scotia has signed a deal with a German aerospace firm that could see orbital launches by 2028. Maritime Launch Services Ltd. says Germany's Isar Aerospace plans to build a dedicated complex at its...
Canada's multi-billion-dollar submarine deal with German defence manufacturer TKMS is among billions in military purchases being showcased at the NATO leaders' summit in Turkey this week, as the allies look to appease U.S. President Donald Trump. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Tuesday that allies and industry were revealing new major projects and signing contracts worth billions of dollars. Announcements included...
Canada’s defence minister says a proposed submarine deal with Germany could allow NATO allies to share crews across a larger fleet, with several countries operating the same class of submarine. “My understanding is in choosing the German-Norwegian manufacturers, there’s a degree of interoperability that’s inherent in the choice,” David J. McGuinty said while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Yahm Levin is a diehard Democrat who lives in one of the nation's most liberal cities. And yet the 39-year-old Jewish woman from Los Angeles is sometimes afraid to use her first or last name when meeting people -- even those who share her progressive politics.
SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) -- The Maine Democratic Party on Wednesday voted to hold a convention now that Democratic Graham Platner has announced he'll drop out of the state's U.S. Senate race after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned that the U.S. is preparing for another night of strikes on Iran, just hours after he said the ceasefire was over because of Iranian attacks.
President Donald Trump's administration is threatening to withhold some federal funding from states that don't make changes to voting practices and is warning state election officials that they face arrest if they don't remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says she raised human rights concerns and specific consular cases involving Canadian citizens during a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Jeddah on Thursday. “Engagement doesn’t mean endorsement,” Anand said. “It is necessary to fulfil Canadian values, to represent those values on the world stage and to bring...
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, as he seeks to deepen bilateral trade and investment after years of diplomatic strain. Carney's trip -- the first to the country by a Canadian prime minister in 26 years -- also saw him meet with business leaders in Jeddah, a port city on...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says it's "unacceptable" that Iran has launched attacks on commercial ships in recent days as it attempts to tighten its grip over the Strait of Hormuz. Anand met with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Thursday and she says Canada stands alongside Persian Gulf countries as Iran lashes out against them. Speaking with reporters in Jeddah, Saudi...
Canada is putting international law as one of its top priorities at the United Nations -- as others accuse Ottawa of pulling its punches. Canada's UN ambassador David Lametti says international rules are "under strain" by major and regional powers, and that Ottawa is alarmed by countries killing civilians, aid workers and UN staff. "I don't think anyone's attacking humanitarian...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in Saudi Arabia as he seeks economic partnerships with a strategically important country whose notorious human rights record is only getting worse. Carney is in the city of Jeddah on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in what will be the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a sitting Canadian prime minister...
Family members make up roughly one-quarter of Canada’s annual permanent resident admissions, and governments regularly celebrate family reunification as a pillar of Canadian immigration policy. Yet, the Family Class Program still reflects a narrow, outdated understanding of what constitutes a family and continues to impose inconsistent, sometimes opaque barriers that prevent many migrant families from reuniting.
For decades, Canada’s relationship with the United States was characterized by a binational commitment to security, prosperity, and democracy. Rapidly changing US expectations on policy, priorities, and approach – in a volatile international security environment – have added friction to the bilateral relationship. Given the power asymmetry inherent to the relationship, precedent suggests that Canada comes out ahead when it...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
In 1995 the Canadian economy was not exactly humming along – it still hadn’t got its mojo back after the severe 1990-92 recession. The unemployment rate was 9.5%, GDP per capita had only just made it back to the level of 1989, and steep spending cuts in Paul Martin’s February budget signaled more contraction.
The name tags that RCMP officers are required to wear for identification no longer have to display their actual names, a move intended to protect them from digital bad actors. In a significant amendment to the Mounties’ Uniform Dress Manual, regular members now can choose to display only their regimental numbers rather than their names.
Today’s Roundtable discussion began with an email from former Bank of Canada governor and deputy minister of finance David Dodge to fellow Sage contributors. David posed this question and observation: “Can Canada still afford the welfare state we built in the 1960s when domestic productivity, labour force growth and investment were high and the global economic conditions were favourable? In...
Cowboy hats, cowboy boots and big buckles: Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric record on location at the Calgary Stampede, where this year’s celebrations are politically charged amid sharp grievances. One test to be decided: Can a pipeline soothe a separatist mood? Plus, Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan sits down for a 200-second interview.
Prime Minister Carney has made his first Senate appointments - including a sitting Conservative MP and the PM's former Principal Secretary. When Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, he ended the practice of making partisan appointments to the Senate, kicking every Liberal senator out of his caucus, and creating an independent panel to make senate recommendations. But now, Carney seems to...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been front and centre of two pipeline proposal announcements in the past week. First, she and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new southern route for the proposed West Coast pipeline on Thursday. Just a few days later, on Monday, she and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a proposal for a new 3,300-kilometre pipeline that...
This week, Prime Minister Carney is in Turkey to attend the NATO summit. Ahead of leaving for Ankara, he announced the procurement of 12 submarines from the German company TKMS, in what’s expected to be the largest military procurement deal in Canada’s history.
